Of all engines, i.e. machines converting any energy into mechanical motion, the heat engine is utilized most widely, despite its theoretical and practical shortcomings, e.g. low efficiency and torque at practical temperature and speed ranges. Basically, it requires a container (chamber) of variable volume, for which the rigid, right, circular or trochoidal cylinder with movable piston is chosen most often, in spite of the high material and manufacturing costs encountered in the precision-shaping of any body with curved surface.
Accordingly, both vehicle engines and power-generating turbines, and even rotary engines with flexible combustion chamber according to U.S. Pat. No. 3,872,852, contain expensive, rigid parts with curved surfaces. In contrast, the engines described and claimed herein, especially those depicted by FIGS. 8a to c, contain mainly rectangular parts, all of the surfaces thereof are either plane while manufactured; or if curved, obtained by non-precision stamping and stacking of a plurality of sheets.
Moreover, simpler and more integrated combinations of internal combustion engine and electric motor/generator are not yet available for the more efficient hybrid (gas/electric) vehicles, e.g. those described in the Aug. 14, 1980 New Scientist, pages 531-4, or U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,011,919 and 4,165,846 respectively, although it has been proven already that such vehicles offer about twice the gas-mileage of today's vehicles, due to regenerative charging of their batteries while braking, and the more efficient electric drive, offering, in contrast to the gas engine, maximum torque at low speed. The engines described and claimed herein, especially those depicted by FIGS. 1a-d to 4, do allow such desired combinations with electric motor/generators.